Now that wasn’t so scary

That, my friends, is how you earn $5.

Each sponsored post pays differently. The one for Dyslexia Decoded was a $5 sponsorship. You can tell it was a sponsored post because in the category link it says “Sponsored” and it had the little red box at the bottom saying that it was sponsored by a company.

Does that mean you should not read them? No. I will post honest thoughts about the websites or products I review. You have read my thoughts and opinions about many other websites and products here on the blog, so the only difference is that now I am getting some compensation back from my postings.

I am trying to earn enough money each month to save for new shoes. Running does not require much equipment, but shoes do wear out and they are not always cheap.

Dyslexia Decoded

Do you know someone with dyslexia? I found a website today that has lessons on how to teach children and adults with dyslexia how to read. It is based on a phonics method, which is a solid reading method. Because English has 44 sounds and only 26 letters, we have sought a different way to teach reading, which, frankly, has not been working. But phonics has worked and will work.

This website, Dyslexia Decoded, promotes the ReadingBySix method. At Dyslexia Decoded there are links on how to get the full program for free. They seem to be more interested in getting the material in the hands of those who need it than making money off of it. They do, however, have a revenue stream. The materials are all available in printed format if you would rather work from a hard copy as opposed to reading the computer screen. They also take donations at their website.

We used phonics when teaching our son to read and will do the same with our daughter. By the time our boy turned 4 years old he was able to read the newspaper. He may not have understood what was being said in the paper, but he was able to read the words and pronounce them properly. Phonics is a great method for teaching children and adults to read.

Here is a press release that I read from them:

Dyslexia? Now there is Free Help

Now there is free online help for people who have dyslexia or simply did not learn to read well while going to school. It is a click-‘n-learn program. Students and adults may learn decoding, basic reading skills, and advanced reading skills all with the click of a mouse.

The program is called ReadingBySix. It provides a systematic approach to helping people defeat dyslexia and related reading problems. You will notice measurable progress from week to week provided participants are active in their studies and do their assignments. The online courses are virtually free when you give a small donation. If you choose not to donate, they are completely free.

Dyslexia is a distinct learning disability characterized by difficulties in decoding individual words. These difficulties may not show up in other cognitive and academic abilities. Dyslexia results from the confusion caused by the brain’s inability to associate abstract symbols with abstract ideas. This includes associating letters and words with the sounds they represent. The key to defeating dyslexia is learning to decode English sounds.

You are invited to review the website and take a few of the courses for practice and learn how the program works. Then use it to teach your children or students to read. It can be used for preschool, home school, grade school, or high school. Students, adults, and children can use it. It teaches reading 100% of the time and it’s all electronic. If you know of people who need help, please tell them about ReadingBySix: http://www.dyslexiadecoded.com/

Source: Dyslexia Decoded
Free Help for Dyslexia

So, if you know anyone who struggles with reading, or if you are going to be teaching your child to read (which, in my opinion, the parents should do and not leave it up to a school system that is broken), then check out Dyslexia Decoded. You don’t have to have dyslexia to be able to benefit from this program.

My Thought Spot 07: Consistently Inconsistent

Listen in as I sit on the back porch and tell you about the last few weeks worth of postings. I tried not to slurp my coffee too loudly while recording. It was a beautiful morning to sit on the patio and listen to the birds as I drank my coffee and recorded this episode.

Show Notes:

Favorite Hymn

I was just surfing around tonight and ran across this blog. The blogger, Rebecca, is asking for people to list their favorite hymn so that she can use the list for upcoming postings. I happen to have a pile of songs I love and would be hard pressed to choose just one or two. But, here are a few that quickly come to mind and some thoughts about them. If you have a favorite, you can add them here, or go over to Rebecca’s blog posting and post them in her comments.

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross This was a song I learned as a young teen. Since I attended a Christian school, we would learn new songs all the time. I very clearly remember my principal, David Hartsfield, teaching us this song. When he would teach us a song, he would teach us all the parts so that we could sing in harmony as a school. The downside? It was not unusual for him to tell us we had to sing before we could order at McDonalds when we were on school trips.

Like a River Glorious I first heard this song, that I know of, when I was in college. I believe it had to be a favorite song of the song leader. We sang it quite often, or at least it seemed to be often. I have often come back to that song as a beloved hymn.

On Jordan’s Stormy Banks I Stand Another song that I was introduced to in college. I once heard a theatrical group sing that song along with acting out some of the verses. The uniqueness was that they had 20 or more different verses.

Great is Thy Faithfulness How can that not be on a list of favorites?

How Great Thou Art Probably has to top my list. That is, if I could rank these things. My favorite verse, and the one that is often skipped over is: My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin, not in part, but the whole. Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more, Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Oh, my soul.

Those are just 5 that jumped out at me at the moment. With a song book in hand, I can easily point out dozens of songs that have some significance to me.

What are your favorites?

Scary punishment

I picked up the following off of the website for the podcast The Mighty Mommy from the Quick and Dirty Tips family of podcasts.

If you know for certain your child is lying to you to avoid punishment, you may want to ask him why. Is he afraid of the punishment? If he is, can you consider a different form of punishment? Depending on the infraction, you might even consider offering to relieve punishment altogether if your child will come clean. The idea behind this thought process is that you want your child to tell you the truth. Let him know that lying won’t get him out of the situation, but telling the truth now and in the future, will definitely result in a more positive response from you.

While I agree that a child telling the truth ought to understand that the fact he told the truth was honorable, and, sometimes it might even lessen the severity of the punishment, I do disagree with one point.

The Mighty Mommy states: “Is he afraid of the punishment? If he is, can you consider a different form of punishment?” I should hope he is afraid of the punishment. What good would punishment be if there were no reason to avoid it? Obviously, I am not talking about abuse of a child, but punishment should not be comfortable. If it were, then it would serve no purpose.

As I listened to this podcast this morning, I cringed. The reason people commit crimes is because they have no fear of the punishment. If they did, then they would not do it. That is not to say that people don’t get caught and punished, but that the criminal considers the risk of being punished to be lesser than the benefit of the crime. Of course there is the problem of committing the crime and never having to serve out the full punishment. You know, 15 years in jail, but they got out in 3 for good behavior. That never made sense to me.

Am I equating a little lying to avoid punishment from your Mom or Dad with being a hardened criminal serving time in jail? Yes. Yes, I am. Criminals start somewhere. Most of the time it starts in the home with the ones who love the child. If that child is willing to go against and abuse the people who love him the most, what is to keep that child in check when he goes out into the world of people who have no personal connection or love towards him?

A child learns how to treat the punishment system of a government by what they are taught in the home.

Romans 13 teaches that the government is not a menace to good works, but to the evil. That is exactly the pattern that should be taught in the home.